The years from approximately 1924 to 1955, in which the evolving manuscript of the Urantia revelation was shared with a small group in Chicago called the Forum, is an intriguing period in the history of the Urantia Book and its readership. Only one source of extensive and detailed information about this period has come to light: the diaries and letters of bestselling author Harold M. Sherman and his wife Martha. During their stay in Chicago, from 1942 to 1947, the Shermans recorded what was said and done at every Forum meeting they attended. They also recorded their conversations with their Forum friends outside Forum meetings. Their diligent documenting resulted in close to two thousand pages of eyewitness accounts which portray Forum life with unmatched vividness and immediacy.
What makes their story especially piquant is that Harold was a controversial figure. Outspokenly critical of some of the plans of the Forum leaders, he was accused by the main leader, Dr. William S. Sadler, of disrupting the superhumanly authorized running of the Forum. Sadler allowed the Shermans to continue to attend Forum meetings, but they became estranged from most of their fellow Forumites. Feeling unjustly blamed, the Shermans wrote sharp, critical reports of the ensuing Forum activities, which contrast with the vague, rosy accounts given decades later by non-Forumites.
Volume One presents the correspondence Sherman had with Sadler and two other notable Forumites in 1941 and early 1942, before the Shermans came to Chicago in May 1942 and began attending the Forum.
Volume Two, covering May to December 1942, records the Shermans' first flush of enthusiasm for the Urantia revelation as well as the events that culminated in the first major conflict among Urantia believers.
The volume opens as the Shermans arrive in Chicago, begin reading the Urantia papers and attend the Sunday Forum meetings. Together with the renowned Arctic explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins, the three become favored Forumites. But, as Harold reads the manuscript and learns of Sadler’s plans to set up a foundation for publishing the Urantia Book and to form an official membership organization for Urantia believers, he is besieged by questions and concerns. Not satisfied with Sadler’s responses to these concerns, Harold helps write a petition, signed by almost fifty Forumites, asking Sadler to allow a free and open discussion of the planned organizations. Upon receiving the petition, Sadler orchestrates a reaction which, in the course of a few days, succeeds in quashing virtually all sympathy for Harold and his proposals. In the space of less than a month, the Shermans go from being favored Forum members to being largely shunned. The few Forumites who approach the Shermans confide in them their confoundment at Sadler’s actions, which have revealed to them an unexpected, dark side to their long-respected leader’s character.
